Ismaila Sarr scores fastest goal in UEFA Conference League history for Crystal Palace against Shakhtar Donetsk in semi-final

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Ismaila Sarr scored the fastest goal in UEFA Conference League history on Thursday to put Crystal Palace ahead in their semi-final against Shakhtar Donetsk after just 21 seconds.

What a start! - Sarr scores for Palace after just 21 SECONDS!

Video credit: TNT Sports

Palace passed the ball back to Dean Henderson from the kick-off, who thumped the ball up the pitch, and Shakhtar were unable to properly clear their lines.

Jean-Philippe Mateta and Sarr worked together to come out on top in an aerial battle to win possession back, before the former combined excellently with Yeremy Pino to set up an early attack.

Sarr charged through the pair of them as he picked up the ball and carried it into the box, before slotting home in record-breaking time to give The Eagles the perfect start in Krakow.

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"What a start! Just over 20 seconds on the clock, and it's The Eagles who are in front after their first attack!" TNT Sports commentator Adam Summerton exclaimed.

Lucy Ward added: "They can't believe it in here! It's silent apart from the Palace fans who are making a tremendous amount of noise in that corner, but what a finish from Sarr!

"What a finish that is! He is the main man; he has been for a few months. Just when they needed to settle any sort of nerves that they had in this away game, they've got it from Sarr."

Kamada hammers Palace back into lead against Shakhtar

Video credit: TNT Sports

Sarr is chasing the Conference League golden boot with eight goals to his name so far.

He is joint-top with Samsunspor's Marius Mouandilmadji and Lech Poznan's Mikael Ishak, who have both been knocked out of the competition.

One more goal should be enough for 28-year-old Sarr to pull clear and win the golden boot, with the nearest active challenger still in the competition being Strasbourg’s Martial Godo on four.

Sarr's effort was not only the fastest goal in Conference League history - a tournament that was first introduced in 2021 - but it was the fastest by some distance.

Rapid Wien's Ferdy Druijf previously held the record after he scored after 32 seconds in a knockout play-off tie against Vitesse in 2022.

Fredrik Ulvestad scored after 34 seconds in a group stage game to kickstart a seven-goal thriller between Sivasspor and Ballkani in 2022, and he has been knocked down to third in the list.

At the same stage of the competition in the same year, Andy Diouf scored for Basel after 57 seconds in a 2-2 draw with Zalgiris.

In comparison, Roy Makaay holds the record for the quickest goal ever scored in the UEFA Champions League after his effort for Bayern Munich against Real Madrid after 10.12 seconds in 2007.

Jonas scored for Valencia after 10.96 seconds in 2011, but the third-fastest was Gilberto Silva for Arsenal in 2002, who scored after 20.07 seconds against PSV in 2002 - a similar time to Sarr's effort on Thursday.

Crystal Palace are involved in only their second-ever European campaign after featuring in the UEFA Intertoto Cup in 1998, losing their only two-legged tie against Samsunspor.

It is their first European semi-final, as they bid for a place in May's showpiece final, which would be against either Rayo Vallecano or Strasbourg.

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